Addressing the event, VAST Vice President Chu Hoang Ha said since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, the academy has carried out studies serving COVID-19 prevention and control.
Recently, on June 28, 2021, a research team of the Institute of Chemistry under the VAST found a method to shorten the synthesis of anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug from Favipiravir.
Ha said the VAST's Institute of Biotechnology in collaboration with Vinh Gia Pharmaceutical JSC and the Vietnam Chemical Pharmaceutical JSC have researched and mastered a technology of making drugs for COVID-19 treatment from Vietnamese herbs called VIPDERVIR.
The National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research under the Ministry of Health agreed to approve the Institute of Biotechnology’s clinical study protocol of VIPDERVIR medicine for COVID-19 patients at a meeting on August 7.
Head of the Traditional Medicine Management Department under the Health Ministry Nguyen The Thinh said VIPDERVIR is made from many Vietnamese herbs containing active ingredients with valuable biopharmaceutical properties.
According to Associate Prof, Dr. Le Quang Huan, who leads the project, the main effects of this drug are to prevent the adhesion of the virus to cells, blocks the ability of the virus to enter cells, inhibits the ability of viruses to multiply in cells, and activate immune cells so that they can recognise, block, and eliminate viral particles.
